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Masha and the Bear
Masha and the Bear ( ; ) is a Russian animated television series created by Oleg Kuzovkov and produced by Animaccord Animation Studio (Moscow, the Russian Federation), loosely based on the oral children's folk story of the same name. The show focuses on the adventures of a little girl named Masha and a fatherly bear that always keeps her from disasters. The first episode was released in 2009. The series has been translated into 25 languages and was broadcast in more than 100 countries. The series was released on Netflix and through NBCUniversal. Many of the episodes have been successful on YouTube. In particular, the Russian-language version of the episode "Маша плюс каша" ("Recipe for Disaster") has more than 3.3 billion views, making it the site's fifth most viewed video of all time, and the most viewed video on YouTube that is not a music video. The remaining top ten most viewed Masha and the Bear videos are: "Bon Appétit", with over 1.1 billion views; "Laundry Day", with over 1.0 billion views; "The Foundling", with over 730 million views; "La Dolce Vita", with over 710 million views; "Hocus-Pocus", with over 620 million views; "One, Two, Three! Light the Christmas Tree!", with over 540 million views; "Two Much", with over 480 million views; "Little Cousin", with over 460 million views; and "Home-Grown Ninjas", with over 350 million views. Masha and the Bear is the only non-music artist to have more than one video exceeding a billion views. The show consists of three full seasons, with 26 episodes each. The first thirteen episodes of the fourth season have been launched already. For the first season in English, Elsie Fisher—the voice of Agnes, the youngest of the three girls in the Despicable Me films—was chosen to dub the voice of Masha. In 2015 the Slovak company COMUNIQUE acquired a license to create an ice show based on Masha and the Bear stories called Masha and the Bear on Ice. The show was presented for the first time on October 3, 2015, in Košice, Slovakia, and has also been performed in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Estonia. Plot Masha is a Russian girl who lives in the forest with her pig, goat, and dog. All the animals in the forest are afraid of her as she is constantly forcing them to play with her. One morning, Masha sees a butterfly and inadvertently follows it inside the home of a bear who has gone fishing. While playing there, she makes a big mess. When the Bear returns, he sees the disaster caused by Masha. The Bear tries to get rid of Masha, but he is unsuccessful, and he and Masha become friends. In each episode of the show, Masha is portrayed as a smart, kind, but mischievous little girl who is exploring the world around her. This leads to many funny and entertaining situations. The kind-hearted Bear is always trying to keep Masha out of trouble, but often ends up the unintended victim of her mischief. There are several supporting characters in the series, including Masha's cousin Dasha, a penguin adopted by the Bear, a young panda cub from China, who is the Bear's cousin, two wolves who live in an old UAZ ambulance car, a tiger that used to work with the Bear in the circus, and a Female Bear that is the object of the bear's affections. Characters also include a hare, squirrels and hedgehogs, a pig called Rosie, a goat, and a dog who all live in Masha's front yard. Characters Masha .]]Masha (Diminutive form of the name Maria/Mary) is a six-year-old girl. Masha is naughty and hyperactive, and always thinks about playing. She lives in a house near a railway station; near her house there is a path that leads to Bear's house. Masha loves Bear very much, but in her games she tends to create problems for Bear. Her parents do not appear in the series. She loves sweets, jumping in a bucket, and looking at drawings of Masha and Bear. Masha's character combines the characteristics of 6-year-olds (making grammatical errors when speaking, crying when she is not given what she wants) with adult skills (playing tennis, fishing, making preserves, playing electric guitar). She is voiced by Alina Kukushkina. In English, Masha was voiced by Giselle Nieto, Elsie Fisher and Rebecca Bloom. Bear The Bear is a retired circus bear who lives in a tree house in the forest. His past occupation makes him very talented in performing arts (like juggling, unicycling, and even stage magic) although he's also known to dabble into other hobbies and even some intellectual pursuits. Some episodes feature flashbacks in which he remembers his childhood as a cub in the same house. In some episodes of the Russian-language version, Masha calls him "Mishka" (Russian: Мишка, English: Literally “Little Bear”), which is a traditional name given to bears in Russian tales. He is a huge bear with a big heart and he is Masha's best friend, as well as a parental figure to her. He was voiced by Boris Kutnevich. Masha's Pets A dog, a goat, a pig, and, in the first episode, chickens. They live outside Masha's house in her front yard but almost every time Masha comes out they hide themselves to avoid her. The Pig is often forced to play with Masha, who makes it dress up like a baby in a stroller. In the episode "Dance Fever" it is revealed that the pig's name is Rosie. The Wild Animals The wild animals are a hare, squirrels, hedgehogs, and two wolves. Masha and a certain Hare (in the episode 'One, two three! Light the Christmas Tree' the present list of Father Frost in English describes this creature as 'Bunny') often play hockey together (and make a mess or accidentally hurt someone), and the Hare is occasionally an antagonist of the Bear, due to stealing carrots from the Bear's garden. The two Wolves live in a derelict ambulance car on top of a hill and often look for something to eat, and strangely act as medics for any apparent injuries or illnesses though they sometimes fear Masha (due to the Russian idiomatic expression "wolves are orderlies of the woods" ("Волки – санитары леса"), living in an ambulance cab and acting as medics is a pun). She-Bear The She-Bear is a female bear. The Bear is enamored of her and sometimes goes out of his way to impress or even woo her. The first time she rebuffed him in favor of the Black Bear, only to realize how self-absorbed he is, and another time she turned her nose up at the Bear's classical guitar playing as she preferred more modern music. Even so, the She-Bear usually opens up to the Bear, such as the time she agreed to have a dinner with him, and she is sometimes kind to Masha, such as giving her a fashion magazine, helping to train her for her tennis match against the Black Bear, and helping her learn to ice-skate. Dasha Dasha is Masha's cousin from Moscow. She looks like Masha but she is very different, she has beige hair, blue eyes, wears blue glasses and an orange dress. She is afraid of the Bear and calls him "Shaggy". Panda Panda is a panda cub and the Bear's young cousin from China. He and Masha are rivals, often bickering every time he comes for a visit, but they occasionally get along and have fun together. Whiskers n' Stripes A tiger who is Bear's best friend from their days performing together in the circus. The Black Bear A himalayan black bear, who is Bear's worst enemy and Bear's chief rival for the attentions of the She-Bear. The Black Bear has an arrogant and unsportsmanlike personality, cheating to win against Masha in a tennis game, and laughing at her when she grows gigantic. Bear's biggest fear is if Black Bear and She-Bear marry which is shown in Game Over when Bear imagines what will happen if he plays games his whole life. Penguin A penguin that first appears in "The Foundling", as an egg that Masha finds and makes the Bear hatch. The Penguin quickly imprints on the Bear as his parental-figure and the Bear forms a sincere bond with him but chooses to send the Penguin to live in Antarctica for his own health. Even so, they stay in touch and the Penguin once visited. Father Frost He is a Santa Claus-like character from Russia who appears in Christmas-themed shows. Four-eyed aliens These aliens appeared in episode 65. They live far away from Earth in the Universe. When 3 specimen accidentally crashed on Earth they were helped by Bear and Masha to get back to their spaceship. Sources According to the project's director, Denis Chervyatsov, Production The series' production has been handled domestically at Animaccord Animation studio since 2008. Date of publication not specified in online article. The scenario for each episode is written by Oleg Kuzovkov, creator of the cartoon. Then the storyboarding is developed in accordance with the script and, in general, consists of at least 2000 slides. After the team finalizes the plot of an episode, the work for the 2D animatic kicks off. At this stage, animators define the duration of each scene in an episode, how characters are placed in it and interact with each other. After this step of the production is finished, the episode is passed for dubbing. Dubbing must be completed before 3D animation is applied, as the 3D animators need to know the characters' dialogue, intonations, and emotions in advance in order to keep their lip movements synchronized to the audio and make their facial expressions look realistic. 3D animation The 3D animation process begins right after dubbing has been finished. Animators manipulate all the movements that happen during the scenes, such as opening doors, taking books from bookshelves, and creating all the bodily movements required to bring the characters to life. Rendering Rendering brings all the processes together. Renderers colorize grey 3D models and add such details as the Bear’s fur, Masha’s hair, etc. They create the lighting and weather in the scene as determined by the script. Composing Composing is the final stage of production, where the composers review all scenes of an episode, checking the color intensities, smoothing the edges of 3D models, and bringing all the components together to form a complete episode. Then the work is approved by the director and script-writer and uploaded to the show's official YouTube channel (MashaBearTV). Voice actors Masha, her cousin and Father Frost are the only characters who speak. The others communicate through pantomime or wordless sounds. For the first two seasons, Masha’s voice in the original Russian version was performed by Alina Kukushkina, who was 6 years old when she began to dub Masha. For the third season (seven years later in 2015), the officials of Animaccord studio confirmed that the new voice of Masha would be 6-year-old Varvara Sarantseva. The show's sound designer, Boris Kutnevich, provides the voice of The Bear. Mark Kutnevich provides the voice of The Hare. For the English version, Elsie Fisher — the voice of Agnes in the Despicable Me films – dubbed the voice of Masha in the first season. In subsequent seasons Masha was dubbed by Rebecca Bloom (ep. 27–39) and Angelica Keamy (ep. 40–52) and now is Giulia De Carvalho and Kaitlyn McCormick. Music The music for each episode is written by Russian composer Vasiliy Bogatirev. Most of the songs used in the cartoon, such as the soundtracks of “Laundry Day” and “The Grand Piano Lesson” episodes, became very popular in Russia and abroad. Awards and achievements * In January 2015, the cartoon was included into a list of "TV Shows Destined to be Classics," which was compiled by the cartoon industry's periodical Animation Magazine to mark its 250 issue. * In February 2015, Masha and the Bear won a 2015 Kidscreen Award for Best Animation in the Creative Talent. * In October 2015, Kidscreen Magazine named Animaccord Animation Studios as one of the top 50 leaders in the world of animation (Kidscreen Hot50) and the top 10 production companies of the year. * As of October 2018, one copy of the video "Recipe For Disaster" has received over 3.3 billion views on YouTube, making it the site's fifth most viewed video of all time, the site's most viewed non-music video of all time, and the site's most viewed animated video of all time. According to the Associated Press, "Masha, who is dressed in a folk costume with a headscarf, became a household name in many Muslim nations including Indonesia." Dmitry Loveyko, managing director of Animaccord, said that "It's a Muslim country, so we thought we're lucky she wears a headscarf and her legs are covered!" Mobile apps The first Masha and the Bear mobile app was released by Apps Ministry in August 2011. In 2013 the first mobile game "Masha and the Bear: Search and Rescue" was published by Apps Ministry. Later more publishers such as Indigo Kids, PSV Studio, Noviy Disk developed and released games and apps featuring Masha and the Bear. Distribution Netflix has released 27 of the first 29 episodes in 9 episodes of 3 segments each. Many of the videos were uploaded multiple times on three different YouTube channels ("Маша и Медведь", "Get Movies" and "Masha and The Bear") so their view counts across up to three channels have been combined. Episodes First three seasons First season (2009-10) Second season (2011-12, 2013-14, 2015) Third season (2016-18) Masha's Spooky Stories Debuts dates listed are for English releases in Canada on Treehouse TV, original air dates in Russia unknown: *Episode 01 "Soul Freezing Tale of Grim Forest and Tiny Timid Bug" debuts 11:20am 15 February 2018 *Episode 02 "Super Scary Story of a Little Boy Who Was Afraid of Washing" debuts 11:27am 15 February 2018 *Episode 03 "Terrifying True Story About Monsters And Those Who Fear Them" debuts 11:20 AM 16 February 2018 *Episode 04 "Troubled Fable About a Kitten Who Was Lost But Found" debuts 11:27 AM 16 February 2018 *Episode 05 "Nightmarish Kids Belief About Christmas Rhymes" debuts 11:20 AM 17 February 2018 aka "A ghastly belief about New Year verselet" *Episode 06 "Grim Parable About Superstitious Girl" debuts 11:27 AM 17 February 2018 aka "A gloomy parable of a superstitious girl" *Episode 07 "Grim Testament About One Snotty Boy" debuts 11:20 AM 18 February 2018 aka "A gloomy covenant about a snotty boy" *Episode 08 "Grim Tale About One Girl Who Was Afraid Of Animals" debuts 11:27 AM 18 February 2018 *Episode 09 "Horrifying Story of Grandmother And Grandson" debuts 11:20 AM 20 February 2018 aka "A horrific story about a Grandma and her Grandson" *Episode 10 "A Myth Full of Grief And Despair About One Historical Error" debuts 11:27 AM 20 February 2018 aka "A full of despair myth about a historical mistake" *Episode 11 "Panic Unbearable Legend About The Insects" debuts 11:20am 21 February 2018 *Episode 12 "Troubled Story About Baba-yaga" debuts 11:27am 21 February 2018 *Episode 13 "Sinister Saga Of A Sick Tummy And A Girl Who Was Afraid Of Doctors" debuts 11:20am 22 February 2018 *Episode 14 "Fantastic Story About A Hedgehog, A Boy And Green Humanoids" debuts 11:27am 22 February 2018 *Episode 15 "Horrible True Story Of How A Boy Was Transferred To Another School" debuts 11:20am 23 February 2018 *Episode 16 "A Terrible Tale About A Cow Herder On A Stump" debuts 11:27am 23 February 2018 *Episode 17 "A Ghost Bike Saga Which Makes You Shiver" debuts 11:20am 24 February 2018 *Episode 18 "Scary Story About Spooky Stories" debuts 11:27am 24 February 2018 (A classic spooky story.) *Episode 19 "Creepy Tale About Useful Inventions| debuts 11:20am 25 February 2018 (A spooky story about useful inventions.) *Episode 20 "Gloomy Story About the Darkest Dreams" debuts 11:27am 25 February 2018 (Computer games with monsters.) *Episode 21 "Terrible Legend about Thunder and Lightning" debuts 11:20am 26 February 2018 (A story about thunder and lightning.) *Episode 22 "Terrible Truth about Those Who Are Afraid to Be Little" debuts 11:27am 27 February 2018 (A story about being little.) *Episode 23 "Bloodcurdling Saga about Joyful Event" debuts 11:20am 27 February 2018 (Hearing news about joyful events.) *Episode 24 "Monstrous Tale about Tall and Short" debuts 11:27am 27 February 2018 (Masha discovers a strange law of nature.) *Episode 25 "Frightening Incident at the Circus" debuts 11:20am 28 February 2018 (A scary story about a strange clown.) *Episode 26 "Shocking Story about a Girl Who Was Afraid of Everything" debuts 11:27am 28 February 2018 (A story about a girl who is afraid of everything.) Criticism and political controversies On July 10, 2017, activists of the Ukrainian public organization “Council of Public Security” from Odessa demanded that the State Committee for Television and Radio-broadcasting of Ukraine and other state services ban the broadcast of “Masha and the Bear” in Ukraine. The organization called the animated series “a Russian media propaganda product” and stated that “Russian propagandists send a clear message to children: the bear, which is traditionally considered to be a symbol of Russia and is associated with this country, appears as a big strong hero who seizes someone else’s property, house, land with impunity ". Animaccord reacted to the allegations, saying that only the first two seasons are broadcast in Ukraine, and that Ukrainian viewers mostly watch the animated series on the Ukrainian-language Masha and the Bear channel on YouTube, access to which cannot be denied in Ukraine. Spin-offs Masha's Tales A spin-off series to the show titled Masha's Tales is also available on Netflix. In the show Masha (voiced by a much older actress) tells classic Russian fairy tales as well as some Grimms' Fairy Tales to her toys. However, Masha makes up her own way of telling the stories (Such as putting a magical nutcracker who turns into a prince when she adapts Cinderella). She also mixes up the morals of the stories by often adding an additional ending so that way it could fit with what she's telling her toys. Masha's Tales premiered on Cartoon Network UK's sister pre-school channel, Cartoonito on June 20, 2016. Another spin-off of the Masha and the Bear franchise – Masha's Spooky Stories – premiered on Cartoonito UK and Netflix in October 2016. Debut dates listed per Treehouse TV: *episode 1 "The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids" debuted 21 October 2017 *episode 2 "The Magic Swan Geese" debuted 22 October 2017 *episode 3 "The Fox and the Rabbit" debuted 23 October 2017 *episode 4 "Red Riding Hood" debuted 24 October 2017 *episode 5 "Father Frost" debuted 25 October 2017 *episode 6 "The Wolf and the Fox" debuted 26 October 2017 *episode 7 "The Tops and the Roots" debuted 27 October 2017 *episode 8 "The Frog Princess" debuted 28 October 2017 *episode 9 "The Snow Maiden" debuted 28 October 2017 *episode 10 "Tom Thumb" debuted 29 October 2017 *episode 11 "Wee Little Havroshechka" debuted 29 October 2017 *episode 12 "The Straw Bull-Calf" debuted 30 October 2017 *episode 13 "Three Little Pigs" debuted 30 October 2017 *episode 14 "The Valiant Little Taylor" debuts 11:27am EST 7 February 2018 *episode 15 "Ali Baba" debuted 26 November 2017 *episode 16 "Cinderella" debuted 1 November 2017 *episode 17 "Caliph Stork" debuts 11:20am EST 9 February 2018 *episode 18 "Jack and the Beanstalk" debuted 2 November 2017 and reruns 9 February 2018 at 11:27am *episode 19 "The Swineherd" debuts 11:20am EST 11 February 2018 *episode 20 "Bluebeard" debuts 11:27am EST 11 February 2018 *episode 21 "By the Pike's Wish" debuts 11:20am EST 12 February 2018 *episode 22 "The Fox and the Rolling Pin" debuts 11:27am EST 12 February 2018 *episode 23 "Axe Porridge" debuts 11:20am EST 13 February 2018 *episode 24 "Go I Know Not Whither" debuts 11:27am EST 13 February 2018 (TV guides misspell "Whither" as "Wither") *episode 25 "The Golden Cockerel" debuts 11:20am EST 14 February 2018 *episode 26 "The Humpbacked Horse" debuts 11:27am EST 14 February 2018 See also * List of most viewed YouTube videos References External links * * * Category:Shows Category:TV Show Category:Article stubs Category:Media